BOULDER -- Boulder County commissioners expressed sympathy on Thursday for anti-fracking activists' desire to ban hydraulic fracturing in drilling any future oil and gas wells in unincorporated parts of the county.

But commissioners Cindy Domenico, Will Toor and Deb Gardner passed new Land Use Code provisions that will affect any new oil and gas developments beginning sometime next year.

Commissioners told a room filled with fracking foes that the county's most pressing need is to replace and update its 19-year-old land-use rules to set restrictions, requirements and conditions about where new wells can be drilled outside the county's cities and towns.

If the county didn't adopt those new regulations, commissioners said, a court could overturn any fracking ban or end the county's moratorium on new well applications -- and leave the county with 1993 rules that aren't adequate to protect air and water quality, other environmental considerations or the public's health and safety.

"The drilling would be more intense, and there would be nothing we could do to stop it," Gardner said.

The commissioners also said that, during a Jan. 24 meeting, they expect the county board to extend the year-long moratorium on processing drilling applications, which is set to expire on Feb. 4.

That extension will be needed, Toor said, toget procedures in place and train county staff on implementing and enforcing the regulations adopted Thursday.

"We're going to have to do all of that before we can accept permit applications," Toor said.

Toor's term expires Jan 8, when he'll be succeeded by Elise Jones, who was elected in November to the District 1 seat.

It may take a long time after Feb. 4 to have the new regulations' review procedures in place and ensure staff is trained on them, Toor said.

The commissioners voiced their support for letting local governments ban fracking -- formally known as hydraulic fracturing, the process of injecting a mixture of sand, water and chemicals to free up underground oil and gas deposits. Colorado law doesn't allow such bans now.

Toor would support banning fracking throughout Boulder County and similar semi-urban parts of the state, he said. But he said present Colorado law doesn't give the county that legal authority, "as much as we'd want to."

Instead, Boulder County is attempting to adopt the strongest local control over oil and gas development possible under current state and federal laws and regulations, Toor said. That way, if the county gets sued over the strictness of those new rules, "we'd have a good chance of winning" in court.

Gardner also suggested she'd personally support a county fracking ban, if it were likely to be upheld in court.

Gardner, a Longmont resident, said she signed the petition placing a municipal fracking ban on Longmont's ballot, that she'd voted for it, and that she was happy to see it pass in last month's election.

In Boulder County's case, though, "if we enacted a ban today, it most certainly would be challenged in court" and probably overturned, Gardner said.

Domenico said the new rules represent just "one piece of the equation" in Boulder County's efforts to protect the public and the environment.

She urged people attending the meeting to join Boulder County officials in their efforts to get the Colorado Legislature, Gov. John Hickenlooper and the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to revise state laws and regulations so local governments have more land-use powers to protect people from the potentially negative impacts of oil and gas exploration and development.

The county board's Jan. 24 meeting's return to oil and gas regulatory issues may include further tinkering with the new county rules to reflect new groundwater monitoring regulations and well-setback requirements being considered by the state Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.

The county may also then adopt a set of impact fees that would charge oil and gas companies for the wear and tear their heavy trucks are expected to cause to county roads.

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